


Getting By

by rivers_bend



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Weechesters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-28
Updated: 2010-02-28
Packaged: 2017-10-07 15:19:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivers_bend/pseuds/rivers_bend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One way or another, Dean needs to get the laundry done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting By

It's 9:30 Sunday night and Sammy doesn't have a single shirt that doesn't have dirt or food or something blue that Dean isn't even sure _what_ it is on it. There isn't much money left and they're almost out of food, and Dean's not sure when Dad's gonna be back. Dean knows there's a level of dirty a six-year-old kid is expected to be, but he's pretty sure they're both getting to look more like they can't afford laundry day than like they wrestled a little on the way to class. That'd be fine (Dean knows from experience) if they were still out in farm country where kids were doing chores and ignoring their mothers' rule they had to change before school, or in a city where lots of the kids were poor. But this time Dad's left them in the suburbs, and everyone's pretty much clean all the time. That means laundry by morning.

The motel has a laundry room out back, on the opposite side of the building from the office. Stupid of them, but perfect for Dean, who's been practicing with the lock picks. He's never tried them on a washing machine or a vending machine before, but he figures it can't be all that hard. Something in that room has got to give up its quarters so nosy teachers don't start asking where their Dad is.

Sam fell asleep watching a Knight Rider re-run about half an hour ago. He doesn't usually wake in the night, but Dean leaves a note just in case—a habit he got into a couple months ago when Sam woke up from a nightmare and almost screamed the whole motel down because Dean was at the 7-11 across the street. Confident of his lock-picking skills, Dean takes two duffels of dirty clothes with him.

It turns out to be a lot harder than he thought it would be. The locks are nothing like door locks, and he's never seen a diagram of how one works. Twenty minutes of trial and error gets the dryer's coin box open though, and it's obviously been a while since they got emptied. He's tempted to take it all, but he carefully counts out enough to do their clothes and get himself a coke and then leaves the rest. Mr. and Mrs. Lang are real nice and don't ask questions. Dean doesn't want to rob them. Just get his laundry done.

Outside the laundry room there's a bench that overlooks the pool and then the parking lot of the liquor store next door. Not exactly the best view in the world, but it's a warm night and Dean takes his coke and sits out there watching cars pull in and out of the lot. It would be nice to have a magazine to read by the light over the laundry room door, but if he goes back to the room there's a chance he'll wake Sam, and Sam needs his sleep. Dean doesn't mind being tired in school so much, but it's hard for his brother.

By the time the clothes are washed, Dean's counted five Buicks, two Volkswagens, three pickups that were probably something like Toyotas, nine Fords and six Chevys go into the parking lot next door. He'd take Dad's Impala over every one of them. The dryers are huge and Dean puts both loads of wash into one dryer and feeds the rest of the quarters in. Bored of counting cars, he lies down on top of the washing machines and listens to the whirry-thump of their clothes tumbling dry. He must doze off because the next thing he knows, the room is silent.

Sam's been alone for a while, and Dean just shoves everything in whatever bag will hold it; he can sort the clothes out tomorrow after school. He does notice that the blue stuff didn't really come out of Sam's shirt. It was probably ink. Sam's not a big fan of being told he has to use a pencil.

Their room is dark and just as he left it, Sam curled right at the edge of his bed, one hand clutching the covers up by his ear. Dean makes sure the alarm clock is set, the door is locked and none of the salt lines are broken, and he slides into his own bed.

His last thought before he falls asleep is that tomorrow Sam can wear whatever he wants to school, except maybe that shirt with the ink stain.


End file.
